Our initial military goal in Iraq was clear: remove Saddam
Hussein from power. But, what next? Ideally, we wanted a stable, self-governing, and developing country to emerge. Nation
building has long been an important aspect of our country,
including Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War and
the extended campaign in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. Stability operations are not only part of our
history, but are also a core function of the United States’ foreign
engagement today and for the foreseeable future.
Initiatives that work to establish stable, self-governing, and
developing countries are crucial for long-term peace, yet, design,
and implementation are extremely difficult. The United States
cannot lead successful initiatives without the help and cooperation of local actors who share in this responsibility. A joint
effort requires understanding all of the local actors’ perspectives
of the situation, hopes and concerns for the future. Local stakeholders understand the nature of the conflict and the complexities of their society better than the United States or other international actors. Stability and governance initiatives must take
this information into account, both in the initial design and at
subsequent decision-making junctures, ensuring that informed
decisions are made on a strategic, operational, and tactical level.
In actual practice, there is little coordination among local actors
and regional and international stakeholders, creating beginning-to-end confusion which impends progress and results in
serious negative secondary consequences. There needs to be a
shared understanding and goal of the situation. stakeholders
must develop and agreed upon process for selecting, designing,
and implementing stability and governance initiatives. Leaders
in these environments need to be able to make quick decisions
and act decisively.
The Inclusive Nationalism Country Assessment (INCA) is designed to meet these needs of inclusiveness with speed and decisiveness. INCA is an inclusive strategic planning and implementation tool specifically for stability operations and governance
initiatives. INCA is built on the idea that national development
efforts should be oriented towards the goal of national sovereignty and inclusive nationalism.
The INCA process organizes all stakeholders around a common
goal, thereby generating an enabling environment for successful
stability and governance. INCA includes representatives from
all segments of a population and from international actors,
while strengthening national identity. In these chaotic environments, every actor requires a better understanding of the
perspectives of other local, national, and international stakeholders and actors, which are not readily available. The INCA
process can fill this information gap and help all stakeholders
share responsibility for stability and g overnance engagements
in post-war environments. INCA is a new tool that systematically facilitates a dialogue to formulate a shared understanding
among all stakeholders in an unstable situation. Because INCA
country assessments are created jointly by all relevant national, regional, and international stakeholders, the assessment
provides a foundation on which to define clear and achievable
goals, and coordinate the actions necessary to achieve them.
Sovereignty and Inclusive Nationalism
The INCA process promotes the establishment of a stable,
self-governing, and developing country. It combines three
separate concepts – sovereignty, inclusiveness, and nationalism.
Sovereignty embraces the notion that stability and development
depend on self-governance, and that self-governance requires
national sovereignty.
Inclusiveness assumes that a country can only succeed when
everyone has access to the nation’s political, social, and cultural institutions. To be truly inclusive, a country must embrace
every person, subgroup, and stakeholder, regardless of religion,
minority affiliation, or gender. A politically inclusive government is desirable as it promotes stability. When everyone is
represented, with the opportunity to participate in and benefit
from the political process, the incentives for violent extremism
are reduced, and the government gains legitimacy by valuing the
interests of its entire population, not just elites.
From an economical perspective, a nation also has an incentive to adopt an inclusive approach. Inclusivity leads to greater
participation in the workforce, translating to overall increased
wealth for the country and a more efficient use of resources.
With an increase in wealth across the population, more people
are able to invest in their communities, seeing a stake for themselves in the future, which is critical for long-term stability.
Inclusivity alone is insufficient to maintain good governance.
as a nation also requires a strong sense of identity. Nationalism,
draws a clear distinction for a society, delineating who is and
who is not recognized as part of the country. Additionally,
nationalism embraces the idea that there should be a shared
understanding of, and commitment to, a common social contract. The social contract enables self-governance and development because it sets rules and expectations, and makes the
enforcement of agreements possible, whether among citizens or
between the government and the people. One of the benefits of
nationalism is that both the government and the residents have
a better understanding of their role and responsibilities.
A strong sense of identity can result in the exclusion of significant portions of society. Marginalized groups may be treated
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